EffecTech's laboratory is accredited by the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) for providing calibration gases accredited to ISO 17025 and the analysis of samples collected from customers’ site. EffecTech is unique in providing ISO 17025 calibration at customers site to calibrate their on-line process instruments for compliance with the requirements of the EU directive. This requirement for on-line monitoring is outlined in in Article 32 (2) of the “Monitoring and Reporting Regulations” [1] of the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU/ETS) [2].

Any industrial installation in the EU emitting significant quantities of carbon dioxide (categories B & C) are subject to monitoring and reporting requirements as outlined in the Commission’s “Monitoring and Reporting Regulations” of the EU Emission Trading Scheme (EU/ETS).

These requirements involve site-specific analysis of gas composition which can only be achieved using gas analysis instrumentation located at that specific site. This instrumentation can be based on a number of different techniques, for example, gas chromatography, infra-red spectroscopy and mass spectrometry.

In addition to using in situ gas analysis, the requirements also specify that the calibration artefact and the instrumentation must be calibrated according to ISO 17025 [3]. In practice this means the calibration gas must be calibrated by a laboratory whose scope of accreditation covers the component gases at the required concentration. The M&R Regulations also specify required measurement uncertainties which vary depending on the process and industrial sector E.g. In the natural gas fuelled power station sector, category C emitters are required to have an uncertainty of <1.5% relative for their measurement of carbon dioxide emissions.

In order that verifiers are able to confirm or otherwise the required measurement uncertainty has been met, the analytical instrumentation used on site must be assessed. This assessment in this case is in the form of an objective evaluation using gases of known composition. For natural gas process instrumentation, the evaluation is based upon the International Standard ISO 10723:2012 [4]. An ISO 17025 calibration certificate is required to show applied gas concentration and measured concentration and associated uncertainties.

The EU/ETS directive has also required that measurements of carbon dioxide and their uncertainties be reported in accordance with the “Guide to the expression of uncertainty in measurement (GUM) [5] so that a ‘level playing field’ is established where uncertainties can be directly compared without fear of differences arising due to the instrumentation or calculations used.

EffecTech now calibrates (according to ISO 17025) over 100 gas chromatographs in the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Spain, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. They provide ISO 17025 calibration gases to more than 60 countries around the world.

[1] The Commission Regulation (EU) No 601/2012 of 21 June 2012 on the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions pursuant to Directive 2003/87/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council